Richard W. Wise | Community Organizer Genealogy Project

Richard W. Wise

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book

My first book
The French Blue

Work History

Start Year	End Year	Organization	Position
1971	1972	Warwick Community Action	Lead Organizer
1973	1974	United Tenant Organizations of Rhode Island	Lead Organizer
1974	1975	Ecumenical Social Action Committee	Lead Organizer
1976	1977	(GAIN) Get Action in New Bedford	Lead Organizer

Organizer Profile

What brought you into the work?:

Like many of my generation, my view of society was formed by watching Bull Connor's fire hoses.

My first organizing effort took place when I was a student at CCRI. It was a series of Open housing marches I organized and led shortly after the death of Martin Luther King. Upon leaving graduate school (philosophy) I Stumbled into a job with an OEO funded CAP agency, Warwick (Rhode Island) Community Action.

I had read Alinsky's Rules for Radicals and it seemed a good practical guide. Stan Holt had been hired as a consultant and I had a few sessions with him and observed and admired his work at P.A.C.E. I organized a city-wide tenant union in the suburban city of Warwick. I quickly learned the limits of grass-roots confrontational organizing in a government funded program.

After being fired from Warwick Community Action for my abrasive activities, I was hired by The Providence Corporation, a private anti-poverty agency, to replicate the Warwick private tenant model statewide in Rhode Island.

Share 3 lessons you have learned through your work in organizing.:

Be practical

Self-interest in man's primary motivation, but outright stupidity must be taken into account.

Don't believe your own press.

Who has inspired you in your organizing?:

Saul Alinsky

Martin Luther King

Stan Holt

Shel Trapp

What movements or political moments have most influenced your organizing career?:

Organizing a fair housing march at Rhode Island Jr. College

Share an accomplishment or list accomplishments from your career in organizing.:

As Director of the (ESAC) Ecumenical Social Action Committee Organizing Project, I Organized The Jamaica Plain Banking & Mortgage Committee and The Boston Anti-Redlining Committee and a successful campaign against mortgage redlining in the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain and the City of Boston. this included a Greenlining campaign. Worked in conjunction with Gail Cincotta and Shel Trapp of NPA on national anti-redlining effort (1973-1975).

Organized as state-wide tenant's organization, United Tenant Organizations (UTO) in Rhode Island in the early 1970s.

Organized a Alinsky-style community organization in New Bedford, Massachusetts, including a community congress for Get Action in New Bedford (GAIN) in the late 1970s

What are the barriers to successful community organizing in this country? How can we overcome these barriers?:

I have been out of organizing since 1977 so I and my knowledge are dated.

Are you still in organizing? If not, in what other fields have you worked? What are you doing now?:

I am currently President of R. W. Wise, Goldsmiths, Inc. I am the author of two books; Secrets Of The Gem Trade and a historical novel; The French Blue.

I am currently working on a novel based on my organizing experience in Boston.

Genealogy

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Richard W. Wise's Trainers

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Richard W. Wise's Coaches

Who has mentored, coached, or consulted with you in your organizing career?

Person	Organization
Beckwith, Dave	Southeastern Massachusetts Advocacy Center
Holt, Stanley	Ecumenical Social Action Committee
Trapp, Shel	Ecumenical Social Action Committee

Richard W. Wise's Peers

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Richard W. Wise's Trainees

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Richard W. Wise's Coachees

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